Mouth clamp for handling and administering medicine to animals



June 3 1924.

J. B. ROMBOUGH MOUTH CLAMP FOR HANDLING AND ADMINISTERING MEDICINE T0 ANIMALS Filed July 24, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 .JIT/I/ENTU Ila/1MB. Hummus.

MOUTH CLAMP FOR HANDLING AND ADMINIS Filed July 24 J. B. ROMBOUGH TERING MEDICINE T0 ANIMALS 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 l'kummr JUHMRRUMHUUEH.

Patented June 3, 1924.

. UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MOUTH CLAMP FOR HANDLING AND ADMINISTER'ING MEDICINE TO ANIMALS.

Application filed July 24, 1922.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN BERNHART Rona BOUGH, a subject of the King of Great Britain, and a resident of the city of Charlottetown, in the Province of Prince Edward Island and Dominion of Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mouth Clamps for Handling and Administering Medicine to Animals, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in mouth clamps for handling and administering medicine to animals such as foxes and the like, and the objects of the invention are to provide a simple and eflicient instrument of this kind for administering medicine to animals without risk of being bitten to the person administering the dose and without irritating or abusing the animal receiving it.

Vith these and other objects in view, the invention consists essentially in the novel arrangement and combination of parts here inafter more fully described and illustrated by the accompanying drawings.

Referring to the drawings, in which like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in each figure, and in which:

Figure 1 is a sid view of the instrument, open.

Figure 2 is a plan elevation.

Figure 3 is a sectional detail.

Figure 4 is a side view of the instrument, closed.

Figure 5 is a plan elevation.

Figure 6 is a sectional detail.

Figure 7 is a sectional detail on the line 7-7, of Figure 4.

In the drawings: 1

A is the instrument as a whole comprising handle pieces 10 and 11 of iron suitably forged and adapted in operation to slide lengthwise alon each other by means of securing members or strips 12 riveted to the handle piece 10 and adapted to slidably engage the other handle piece 11. The main handle piece 10 is bent at the top at 14 and inserted is a wooden block with hole 15 through which the medicine is administered, and it is also bent at the other end to form handling means.

The other or operating handle piece 11 is substantially shorter in length than the Serial No. 577,163.

handle piece 10 and is provided at its lower end with lazy-tongs 18 pivotally mounted thereon and extending to form the clamping members 19 and 20 adapted in operation to open as shown in Figure 1, while the block 14ris gripped by the animal about to receive the medicine, and then, on the animal. gripping the block, the clamping members 19 and 20 are closed as shown in Figure 4 to clamp the block in the animals month by engaging with the outside of the upper and lower jaws of the animal, thus enabling the medicine to be administered through the hole 15 in the block.

This operation of opening and closing the clamps 19 and 20 is accomplished by means of the lazy-tongs operated by the handle 11 being moved upwardly and then downwardly by means of the bent handle means 21 thereon. provided with a ratchet 22 on the inside adjacent to the top and designed to engage with a pin 23 extending through the handle 10 and, by so doing, to hold the handle 11 and the clamps 19 and 20 securely in closed position, thus locking the instrument.

When so locked, the instrument is held firmly in place and no amount of efiort on the part of the animal can release it after the fangs are closed over the piece of wood in the form of the block 14, and the clamping members are closed, on on the upper and the other on the lower jaw. This enables one to administer medicine through the hole in the block and hold the animal fast for external treatment, if necessary or desired. The clamping arms may be covered with a piece of rubber tubing to prevent chafing the animal.

To unlock the instrument and release the animal, it is only necessary to spring the two handles apart about one-eighth of an inch, which allows the teeth on the ratchet side to slip past the little sharp pin 23, allowing the operating handle to slide down, opening the clamping members, as already described.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of my invention within the scope of the claims, constructed without departing from the spirit or scope thereof, it is intended that all mat- IAQG 1 I This operating handle 11 is ter contained in th accompanying specification and drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense,

hat 1 claim as my invention is: i

1. in an instrument for administering medicine to animals of the class described comprising handle members adapted to slidably engage with one another, a gag carried by one of the members, lazy-tongs pivotally mounted on one of said members, clamps formed on the lazy-tongs designed when closed to embrace the gag, ratchet means on one of the handle members a pin through the other handle member designed to engage with said ratchet means whereby said members and the clamps are locked and unlocked, aperture means in the gag adapted to receive therethrough the medicine to be administered.

2. In a device of the character described, a pair 01 handle members in slidable engagement with one another, a mouth gag having a hole therein carried by one of said members and clamping jaws operatively mounted on the other member whereby said members are slidably operated to open and close the jaws, locking means for the handle members comprising a ratchet and a pin means designed to engage with one another.

3. An instrument of the character described comprising a pair of handle members including a main handle and an operating handle slidably secured to one an other, an apertared mouth gag carried by the main handle, clamping members operatively mounted on the operating handle, and locking means for said handles.

at. An instrument of the character described comprising, in combination, slidably operable handle members, an apertured gag for said members, clamping means operatively mounted on one of said members adapted to engage with said gag in a closed position and to disengage therefrom in open position, means carried by said members for holding the clamping jaws in a closed position or releasing them to an open position.

5. In a device of the character described, the combination with operatively mounted handle members, of a gag with an opening therethrough carried by one of said members and a pair of clamping jaws operable by the other member and designed in closed position to embrace the gag, means for re taining the clamping jaws in closed position and means for slidably operating the handle members to release said jaws.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two witnesses.

JOHN BERNHART ROMBOUGH.

itnesses ALBERT KANEEN, KATHLEEN FITZGERALD. 

